This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to electronic devices with displays.
Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, computers, and other electronic devices often contain displays. A display includes an array of pixels for displaying images to a user. In an organic light-emitting diode display, pixels are formed from thin-film circuitry. A thin-film encapsulation layer is used to protect the pixels from damage due to environmental exposure. The thin-film encapsulation layer includes inorganic dielectric.
The thin-film circuitry for multiple display panels can be fabricated on a common substrate. Following fabrication, individual display panels can be cut from the common substrate using a laser. The inorganic dielectric is prone to cracking as display panels are cut from the common substrate. To prevent cracking and to ensure that structures such as bond pads are not coated with inorganic dielectric, chemical vapor deposition shadow masks are used to block inorganic dielectric deposition around the periphery of each display panel where the panels are cut from the substrate. This type of arrangement places a premium on shadow mask accuracy and may create inactive border areas on the display panels that are larger than desired.